Gesenius, in particular, has maintained that both the Cappadocians
and the Assyrians were allied to the Persian
and not to the Syrian race. We must consider the grounds
on which he founds his opinion.
The reasons for denying the Syrian origin of the Cappadocians,
on which the ancients are unanimous» are the
following :—-
l. “ Strabo ascribes to the Cappadocians a peculiar language,
which he represents as different from the idioms of
all the neighbouring nations. He has left no hint that it
was Syrian.” We might infer with just as much evidence^
that the Cappadocian language was quite different from
the Persian. No notice is given of its connexion with
either of these idioms. There are no resources existing
for elucidating the question, whether the Cappadocian
speech was a Syro-Arabian or an Arian dialect or neither
one nor the other, unless the inscriptions lat||ydiscovered
by Sir J. Fellowes should afford a clue to the. solution of
this problem. It has beendhought by Mr. James, Yates,
and other learned writers, that the idiom is rather an Indo-
European than a Semitic dialect ; but this question js^not
considered as one yet solved, and even if the inscriptions
should turn out to be written in a Medo-Persian idiom,
this is only what might be expeeted from, the known subjection
of Cappadocia, in very early times, to the Median
power, and the establishment of the Magian priesthood
and religion in that country. Gesenius has further observed
that, “ according to Strabo, the Cappadocians worshipped
the Persian gods; and that their country was the
seat of a great number of Magi, and was full, of fire-
temples.” The Persian religion was that of Cappadocia
in the time of Strabo. This is attributed to the fact,
that the country had been long subject to the Medes, whose
empire, in Lesser Asia, reached as far westward as the
Halys, that river being the boundary of old between the
dominion of the Medes and Lydians. To this last Paph-
lagonia, on the left bank of the Halys, belonged. This
does not prove that the original inhabitants of Cappadocia,
or the “ White-Syrians,” as they were termed by the Gre'eks,
werernot an Aramæàn people. It seems probable that a
tribe ' of that race was in earlier times on the banks of
the Hafp4 and thatrth% were conquered by the Medes,
anil, perhaps, supplanted by a Median colony.’ We cannot
otherwise account for the fact that the people of Cappadocia’wea&
always called Syrians. ‘ ;
fV'2. In his, late work ofe Phoenician inscriptions, Gesenius
refers to the evidence afforded by com3. He is of opinion,
notwithstanding the ^rëvâehTstatèmentof 'ancfëht writers,
that the Shemiie'natibns and dialëcfS reached not further
lOffhwards than* 0ile%. The coins ©f Sida and Gélfefldè'ris,
f Ofnfee-rte»terîr’'pâ;r!tô'Ôf t^ p h iK a and êilicia' display
characters which, thougk)resemblihgfthe?Phoenician, are not
really such, being rathérlike the old Persian»letters, but
ÿèt undecypherèd. The; coins found in other parts' of Ci-
lîèià,' which have really Phoenician fegènds, bdloffg tó Persian
dimes.* l
Whether Cappadocia, properly SONermedy was originally
possessed by-a Syro-Arabiaii jpèöple or not, we have rfeasoi#
to believe that parts of Mount Taurus and tfiè ihknd region
of Asia Minor were inhabited by a' tribe"Of that race.
Strabo declares that the highest Sparts of'*tîfe*r|hain of
KhÿÉsÿ bf which the lofty summits wbre very conspicuous
from the seh cUast of the Euxine, were inhabited by pêoplb
called by the Greek writers SoXupot o r‘* Solymi:” ,Thisfgeo-
grapher supposes that Homer alluded to these Solymi in
a passage of the “ Odyssey,’“ in which he speaks of people
who loókèd from distant mountain-tops upon the ocean ;
but, if so, the poet iUust, as Strabpjqlgests, havé mistaken
or overlooked-.tiheir real situation. It is certain that Josephus,
by an absurd error, hàs taken thèse Solymi for
' * Gesenius, Séïipt. Ling. Phten. Mbn. p'. 11. ,
‘ t Homer 'mentions the mountains of the Solymi in' the - fifth book of the
<<s‘Ödyssey,” w h e rb lie makes îïe p tttn e lè o k -d0"wn from them on Ulysses
êaiîing to PÎÉeâéîa. • ......■ "
r b v S ’ A i ^ i è v d tW 1 â v i ù v i c $ d & v 'E v o ' o i x Q & v '
■ r r ç X ô Ô E V .
| | ,j3ïom; Odys$., 5, y. 282«-r~
Strabo, l i é , lie . 22.—Bobhart, Phaleg.1, pàïtf 2, lib. 6, c. 6.
V o l . i v . , ' 3 z